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Why Lionel Messi does NOT need to win this World Cup

By Zack Nelson

BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 04: Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the La Liga match between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou on March 4, 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 04: Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the La Liga match between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou on March 4, 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images) /
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The most tiresome narrative surrounding this year’s World Cup is the debate of whether or not Lionel Messi can be considered the greatest of all-time if he fails to win a World Cup.

Make no mistake – if Argentina fails to get out of the group stage in Russia, and Barcelona lose to Roma in the Champions League, Lionel Messi would still be the greatest player of all time.

But some still argue that in order to be considered the “GOAT”, you have to win at the highest level. But is the World Cup really the highest level? I would argue no.

Is it the world’s biggest stage? Absolutely. No sporting event tops the World Cup in terms of viewership and popularity, we all know this.

But in terms of competition, the Champions League is undoubtedly the highest level in world football – a tournament that Messi has already won 4 times, and is on track to potentially win a 5th this season.

BERLIN, GERMANY – JUNE 06: (L-R) Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar of Barcelona celebrate with the trophy after the UEFA Champions League Final between Juventus and FC Barcelona at Olympiastadion on June 6, 2015 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
BERLIN, GERMANY – JUNE 06: (L-R) Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar of Barcelona celebrate with the trophy after the UEFA Champions League Final between Juventus and FC Barcelona at Olympiastadion on June 6, 2015 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images) /

One argument for this claim is the fact that the likes of Gareth Bale, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, David Alaba, and Riyad Mahrez have NEVER been in a World Cup, and others like Robert Lewandowski, Mohamed Salah, and Medhi Benatia have helped their team qualify for their first World Cups since 2006, 1990, and 1998, respectively.

To add onto that, Arturo Vidal, Alexis Sanchez, and the entirety of the Italian and Dutch national teams will be sitting at home this summer. Not to mention all the players from dominant countries like Germany, Spain, France, Brazil, etc. that get regular playing time at the club level but just aren’t good enough to make the World Cup roster.

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There is an abundance of quality players that get left out of the World Cup every time it rolls around, whereas all of those players feature in the Champions League almost every year.

And it’s not those players’ faults for not making the World Cup – nobody’s blaming Henrik Mkhitaryan for Armenia never qualifying, or Aubameyang for Gabon never qualifying. They just happened to be born in a country that doesn’t produce a lot of high-quality talent. You can’t build around a player at the international level – you’re stuck with what you have, and Argentina is no different.

You can make the argument that Messi plays with Higuain, Dybala, Aguero, Icardi, and di Maria, but realistically you can only get 3, maybe 4 of them on the field at the same time and still be a fluid, coherent team. Also, when you look at Argentina’s roster as a whole, their midfielders and defenders really aren’t anything special.

I know it’s a cliche, but football is a team game. I have nothing against guys like Ever Banega and Lucas Biglia, but they’re not exactly the type of players that you can rely on to help you win a World Cup, and the expectation that Messi has to carry his team to win this competition to even be considered as the greatest of all-time is absurd.

We can praise Pele for winning 3 World Cups, but those Brazil teams were stacked with talent, and Pele played in an era and in a league where the competition isn’t even close to what it is in Europe today.

We can praise Ronaldo for winning the Euros with Portugal, but if Eder doesn’t score in stoppage time against France, are we even having this debate? Would anyone be saying that Ronaldo can’t be considered one of the all-time greats either because he’s never won anything with a team whose talent simply isn’t anywhere near his level? Absolutely not. And it’s unfair to hold Messi to a different standard.

The fact of the matter is that Lionel Messi has scored over 600 career goals, and won everything you possibly can with Barcelona. And then he won it again. And again. And again.

It seems like every time Messi scores a goal he’s breaking yet another record, and the fact that he’s been consistently dominating the world’s best competition for the better part of a decade is what makes him so remarkable.

Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time, and whatever happens this summer will not change that.

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That’s my take on the whole thing. You can agree or disagree, but we’d love to hear more from you guys, so keep the discussion going in the comments.

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